Clinical waste collection problems sometimes run in a manner that is less than satisfactory, and services operated by Birmingham City Council are obviously no exception.
Teething problems with a new driver learning his round has been blamed for a three week delay in collecting clinical waste left to amass to 14 bags outside a pensioner’s home.
Birmingham City Council usually collects around four yellow bags of clinical waste from the home of this 82 year old lady every week, which her 61-year-old son places outside her home.
But the council has failed to collect her bags for three weeks – leaving them to amass to 14 bags.
Promise after promise that the bags will be collected as soon as possible had been given so the resident and her son have not dared to move them.
“The council seems to make a lot of promises but then they just don’t back them up.
“I keep calling up and get promised that the waste will be collected by a certain day then no-one comes. Then I get the same answer when I call back again. It’s really frustrating.
A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “We apologise for the missed collections. It appears to have been teething problems with a new driver getting used to his new round and this problem should not happen in the future.”
This seems to be a classic example of incompetence, and obviously should never have happened. But why place the blame on a rooky driver who does not know his round? Can the man not read from a list? Does he not speak with his managers, and do his managers not check that the rounds have been complete? And what about all of those calls for assistance after the first missed collection?
I think the likelihood that the explanation of a rooky driver getting used to his round is little more than bullshit. When measured against the sometimes indecent haste shown by Local Authorities in the imposition of civil penalties and other charges or prosecution of householders for sometimes trivial waste-related ‘infringements’, whoever gave that explanation should be held to account for such nonsense.
Birmingham City Council and its contractors should hang their heads in shame.